No Place Like Home
by Penglaive
Summary: Sora has visited many worlds, some of which didn't actually exist, but at the end of a long journey, there is no place like home.
1. Remembering Where

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Kingdom Hearts—that honor belongs to Squaresoft and Disney. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

Formatting: "Spoken words are in quotes." _Internal character thoughts are in italics.__  
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Kairi had been unusually determined in her concern over Sora's final preparations.

"You're sure you've got everything you need?"

"C'mon, Kairi, don't you trust me at all?"

She paused, then nodded solemnly, the gesture lightened by the small smile playing across her face. "Remember, you have to bring my keychain back to me, okay?"

Sora nodded confidently, his hand tightening briefly around Oathkeeper, the weight of it both heavy and precious. "It's a promise."

"Good." Kairi's smile widened back at him, and there was something absolutely infectious in it. "I'm going to make a huge picnic lunch for the three of us, and we'll have it at that spot underneath the paopu tree, as soon as we get back!"

Sora hardly needed any more incentives to win quickly, but any thought of the future was welcome, if it included Kairi and Riku by his side—especially back home together. Those reminders were doubly welcome, because Sora was starting to have trouble recalling the little details. Oh, he was sure they were there, somewhere. Namine was in a sense Kairi, after all, and so he was sure all his memories had been put back right.

The sad truth was, he'd started forgetting even before Castle Oblivion. Just inconsequential things, like the fine, gritty texture of the sand between his curled toes, as the three of them raced down the beach, or the exact shade of the sea they used to watch at sunset. He'd lost the precise pitch of the sharp, storm call the gulls had, the strange jerking rhythm of the sand crabs—even though Riku had worked so hard to see Sora's memories returned, no one could stop time from stealing some of the subtle points away. Trapped in a seemingly endless castle of not-quite-existence, everything about the peaceful island life they'd once shared felt so very far off...

_But I will get back there_, Sora promised himself determinedly, setting out to fight before Kairi could start fussing over his equipment again, as she had once fussed over their picnic supplies.

The castle was literally crawling with Nobodies, and Sora was very grateful that he had solid backup to help him, since every time he dashed forward to make some headway, he found himself surrounded, enemies materializing on all sides. Eventually, he arrived at the base of some steps where Nobodies were coming at them particularly thick and fast, and before Sora had a chance to really think about it, he called on the power of his two companions, knowing a fusion form would help finish things before exhaustion set in. Of course, he didn't give his friends any warning of that, as he tended to be a bit impulsive in battle, but he was used to counting on Donald and Goofy to adjust to his sudden shifts in strategy. The thing was, Donald wasn't with him, at the moment.

Riku was.

The instant that occurred to him, Sora tried to take the call back, but it was too late, and he found himself stretching anxiously out along the line of power that formed his connection with his old friend. If this failed, then Sora knew the Darkness of The World That Never Was would rush into the void to meet him, that a skulking anti-form awaited. The Heart in front of him wasn't open like Goofy's was, though, and maybe Sora really had asked for too much, this time, maybe Riku wouldn't even let him in...

But at the last possible instant before the Darkness could grasp hold and draw him into its dangerous dance, Riku's Heart slammed open against it, their fusion connection suddenly alive with the Light of a thousand red-gold sunrises, power warm as the tropical seas swiftly flooding through him. Sora knew that Goofy must still be connected to him, somewhere, because the pitch black, yellow eyed anti-form hadn't arisen, and yet he almost couldn't feel his other companion for the strength of Riku's Heart suddenly beating alongside his own.

_Let me show you_, his long time friend's voice whispered through him, and the set of Sora's ankle became a race down to the beach; the tilt of his knee, a playful dolphin kick in the ocean; the flex of his elbows, a swing up to the branch of the paopu tree, and in his hand was Riku's—no. It was Sora's Keyblade, still, but he could feel the pulse of Way to the Dawn layered alongside it, bright white Light leading the way out of Darkness.

The Nobodies were dispatched in under a minute, but it was hard for Sora to end the fusion form then, because he still needed it, his eyes drawn to a far off, half-forgotten horizon, sun rising above the waves, as the warm familiarity that was Riku reminded him of the way home and all that lay waiting for him, there.

_The three of us, we're going to have a picnic, beneath that paopu tree..._

Sora tried desperately to burn that memory deeper into his Heart, to hold onto the solid rhythm of the ocean that had once been as familiar as his own heartbeat, even as the fusion connection eventually, inevitably faded away, dulling his memories once more, as he was forced to recall the Islands though just one set of eyes.

"Gawsh, Sora, I was ready t' help ya, but it seems like you an' Riku didn' need much helpin'!"

It was only at the incongruous sound of that recently familiar voice that Sora realized exactly how distracted he had become, and one of his hands reached automatically up to rub at that spot on the back of his neck in mild embarrassment, as it finally occurred to Sora that it might have been impolite to lean so heavily on Riku's power that he was effectively spurning his other teammate. "Sorry, Goofy," Sora apologized; he certainly hadn't _meant _any offense. "It's just...I was..." He looked over at Riku, met eyes the color of a warm tropical sea, and felt a sharp pang of nostalgia shoot through him, the phantom lap of waves rising against his ankles.

"Aw, shawks, it's awlright, Sora," Goofy responded, with the good natured understanding that everyone around him had come to rely on. "Meetin' old friends is like comin' home again, and I reckon it's been a long journey for ya. With any luck, though, we'll awl be goin' home, soon."

"Yeah," Sora breathed, shaking himself off enough to continue up the staircase, into the next room, before Riku could scold him again for making Kairi wait so long.

His friend slouched along closely after him, his posture far more defensive than Sora remembered, that lanky body folded in on itself, as if Riku were still not sure that it was really his own. It reminded Sora painfully of exactly how much things had changed, and there was no denying that there was now a subtle sadness in Riku's familiar expression, a little slice of Twilight that lingered. But in the end, Riku was so much more than that, so much stronger than the Darkness alone, and Sora had seen for himself the place in his friend's Heart that held both a hope and a promise.

_Let me show you, Sora—the Way to the Dawn!_

It wasn't going to be easy, though. No sooner had they made it inside the next room than more Nobodies began materializing around them, seemingly out of thin air. Together, Keyblades drawn, they fought through the shadows that barred their progress forward, and even as wisps of Darkness slithered, questing, curling against his skin like Ursula's ink when he cut through them, Sora could still feel the warm, clean ocean tide of the fusion connection humming just under the surface, ready to support him if he needed it. He was grateful to Goofy, as well, of course, but it was Riku who lent him the knowledge, deep down in his Heart:

_This time, this time, we will really be going home!_


	2. Our Way

Three weeks after their long awaited return to Destiny Islands and the best picnic ever, Riku quietly asked to see the Oblivion keychain.

Sora initially just blinked at him, startled and a little worried that the sight of it would remind his friend of darker times. A moment later, though, he realized exactly how silly that was, because nothing had ever been wrong with _Riku's _memory, and if his occasionally morose silences were any indication, he obviously had no qualms about reminding himself of the very worst parts of it. Still, Sora didn't want to help Riku "dwell", as Kairi put it. Then again, his friend had _chosen _to come back with him, and that had to count for something, right?

In the end, Sora knew he needed to trust his friends, so he pulled the keychain out of his pocket—and what did it say about his own dwelling, that he still carried the thing around?—and extended it toward Riku. His friend solemnly clasped it in his hands, his eyes falling closed as he allowed himself to feel its essense, the unique impression of thought and feeling and memory that was individual to each keychain.

"It got me through some rough times," Sora told him and saw Riku wince, although whether that was from the reminder of the difficulties Sora had faced or from Riku's own guilt at his part in them, Sora didn't know. "I meant, no matter how Dark it feels, it always kept me safe," he elaborated, in case Riku had chosen to misinterpret things again. He still did that sometimes, blaming himself for long forgiven mistakes or even for things that had never been his fault in the first place—or worse, Riku would actually get hung up about their missed _school_ _work_.

Kairi claimed their friend was getting better at understanding what was really important, but much as Sora would have liked to believe that, just the night before, he had told Riku at great volume that doing one more minute of the mountain of make-up work would absolutely _kill _him, and Riku had made him keep going for another _hour_, anyway_._

Either Riku was going deaf or his mind was still addled by the Darkness. Clearly, there was no other possible explanation.

Thankfully, he seemed to hear Sora alright this time, because Riku responded to his intended reassurance with a calm nod, smiling just a little, and Sora felt the corners of his own mouth turn up, with the hope that he might be able to wriggle out of doing that algebra stuff, after all.

_If we just don't tell Kairi..._

"Thanks, Sora," Riku said, distracting him from the fine art of scholastic escape, as he handed Oblivion back. Then, Riku dug a keychain out of his own pocket and held it out. "Here. You wanted to see it, right?"

"You're really going to let me hold it?" Riku had been unfailingly friendly since their return, but he'd also been conspicuously silent about what had happened to him before they got back. Since the keychain of Riku's Keyblade held the imprint of some essential part of that difficult journey, holding it would be like hearing a part of that story.

Riku nodded. "It's only fair, since you let me see Oblivion."

"Yeah, but that keychain was connected to you in the first place."

Riku sighed, jiggling the keychain a little bit in his still extended hand. "Just take it, Sora."

So Sora wiped his hands off on his pants (maybe he _should_ have listened to what Kairi had said about washing them earlier) and reached out to grasp the keychain. As soon as his fingers closed around it—_oh_.

He could see the last of the stars twinkling in the pre-dawn sky, pale light barely spilling up from the horizon. His toes sank between fine silver sand, as the fresh, unmistakable tang of the sea filled his nostrils, his hearing swept away with the waves gently caressing the newborn sun as it slowly rose, brilliant lances of Light dispelling the mist and driving away the Darkness, until the world was filled only with the single promise: out of the Darkness, Hope; out of the Night, another chance at Day.

"It's only fair," Riku's voice carried to him on the gentle ocean breeze, "because this keychain is connected to _you_, in the first place. That whole year I watched you sleeping your life away, who do you think I wanted to give that new Day to?" Riku smiled, slightly lopsided. "And shame on you for lazing around, when you were supposed to be taking care of Kairi," he teased, distilling humor somehow from those lost days.

Sora smiled back.

He had seen Darkness and he had seen Light, but he had never found such a concrete way to traverse between the two of them, a path built on Dawn's pure, unadulterated Hope.

"I think I finally understand," he murmured, a nagging mystery at last resolving within his mind. "When we were trapped at the edge of existence, Kairi told me the message she sent out only had two words: 'Come home.' The bottle came to you because you were the bridge that allowed the Light to reach into the Darkness. It was addressed to me, because I was the one you hoped to send back to the Light."

Riku blinked at him, obviously surprised by his revelation.

"But we came back _together_, Riku," Sora told him, insistent, before abusing a little of his lingering power to add the imprint of a piece of his own Heart to the keychain in his hand, "so you better get used to having these new Days, too."

Sora thrust the keychain out confidently, and Riku reached out to accept it, Our Way to the Dawn hanging, for just a moment, comfortably between them.

Places with a thousand memories smelled and sounded and flashed around them, receding into the past and rising again in the future with the ceaseless rhythm of the ocean waves. The surf hiss-crashed in swirls around their ankles, and the sharp, salt breeze blew through their hair, the white gold sun of the Islands shining down over the glittering sand and the endless tropical sea and the lazy paopu tree Riku always loved to sit in. Even so many long days spent surrounded by creatures with no Hearts, bodies with no Souls, couldn't stand up to the force of so much _life_, rising and surging and glittering all around them in startlingly concrete detail: old, timeless simplicities that existed before the dark was Dark, and when the Light was still just light.

In exchange for the new beginning he'd received, Sora would remind Riku of that, of a thousand childhood adventures concluded with a mad dash out of the sparkling surf into a waiting pair of arms, the knowledge etched deep down in his bones:

_Finally, finally, we are __**home**__._

They were all three home together, and it was all he could ever want._  
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End file.
